There are no prior applications related to this application.
This invention relates generally to the field of animal feeders, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to reduced compression gravity-feed clean food-recycling system for a bird feeder with an ability to protect the food from fecal contamination.
Man has kept birds since the beginning of time, and has been faced with the same problem since man put the first bird in a cage. The problem being how to keep an adequate supply of food before the bird at all times, in spite of the bird""s habit of throwing it out.
Typically birds are fed out of small, open, lightweight containers sized by the cage manufacturers to fit through slots in the cage wire and held in place by wire doors, and referred to as feed bowls. Very quickly the bird finds other uses for these as push-pull or chew toys. It becomes a battle of wills between bird and owner to keep the food bowl in place. Ultimately the owner usually loses and resorts to using cereal bowls or heavy crock bowls that the bird should not be able to move or dump, but does. At the end of the day the bird is without food and the frustrated owner refills the open bowl, knowing full well that such a feeding method is totally inadequate and inefficient.
For the owner of one bird, the feed bowl problem with resulting clean up of the cage, and the immediate surrounding area, is sufficiently frustrating. For breeders with perhaps hundreds of birds, the problem becomes life threatening to the birds, their hatchling and perhaps a significant health risk to the owner, as a result of sweeping moldy feed off the floor. In addition to the health risk, such food waste can cause severe economic loss to the breeder and is ultimately reflected in the price of pet birds. Many breeders have resorted to rabbit type feeders: gravity feeders made of tin with small trays that the food drops into. But the same problem exists with these as with open feeders. The bird often digs out every bit of food and throws it all over the room, looking for that favorite piece.
Why are birds prone to this wasteful behavior? In the wild, birds forage and gather as a primary part of their daily routine. They browse on the ground, in trees and bushes, over and under rocks and leaves for food. They even search under the ground for their favorite morsels, scratching up topsoil and picking for seeds underneath. They search for their favorite foods and only accept second choice after they are satisfied that their favorite is unavailable. The universal favorite of almost all birds is sunflower seeds. Many cage birds will empty a full bowl of bird food, throwing it everywhere, as they eat only the sunflower seeds out of it.
Limited access gravity feeders, such as the rabbit type described above, have been around for many years. An alternate approach is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,838 issued to by Bloom et al. (Bloom ""838) proposes a bird feeder with a recapture reservoir. However, neither the gravity type rabbit feeders nor Bloom ""838 limit contamination of the food pan with bird droppings. Once the food pan is contaminated, it must be washed to stop the spread of germs. This often requires a major intrusion into the cage with tools, pliers, wrenches, etc. to remove the, bolts, washers, wing nuts, which commonly secure these devices to the cage. Such intrusions, while disturbing to pets, can cause major upsets for breeding birds, including the cessation of breeding activity and even the killing, or worse, maiming, of the young in the nest.
Another problem with these rabbit-type metal-gravity feeders is that they are opaque and cannot be seen through. They also have straight walls, which can cause the feed to compress at the bottom and become plugged. Because the feed is hidden, birds can die before the plug is discovered. Even in the transparent acrylic feeders, compression induced feed stoppage is still a problem.
Still another problem existing in the prior art, including Bloom ""838, is that of the feed trough being too flat, or angled so slightly that the food dust settles in the corners and has to be chipped out with an instrument such as a screwdriver, and are void of cleaning ports. Old food stuck in the corners of any feeder often molds. Mold can cause several serious respiratory conditions in birds and humans alike.
Thus, challenges remain and needs persist to provide an improved bird feeder that will trap displaced and thrown feed, that addresses the problem of compression of the feed, which will substantially eliminate direct feed contamination, that can be re-supplied from outside a cage or enclosure, and that can be removed for cleaning from outside the cage or enclosure absent a need for tools.
An embodiment of the present invention provides a feeder having a reduced compression gravity-feed clean food-recycling system providing clean food for a bird including a pair of side panels; a manicuring perch with a serrated surface adjacent the side panels for wearing down a toenail of the bird while feeding; a manger floor with a pair of particle egress notches adjacent the pair of side panels supporting the clean food; a pair of settling slots established by the pair of particle egress notches, the manger floor and the pair of side panels passing particles of food; a manger stop adjacent the manger floor for confining the clean food; a catch encompassed by the pair of side panels, the manicuring perch, the settling slots and the manger stop accommodating clean food spilled or discarded by the bird; and a reclamation slide adjacent the side panels for collecting food and food particles.
An embodiment of the feeder is built by steps that include providing a sheet of material for use in producing component parts of the feeder; separating each component part of the feeder from the sheet of material; collecting and pre-staging select component parts into an assembly kit specific to a bird species; notching a particle egress notch into a manger floor for use in forming a settling slot; embedding a serrated pattern into a manicuring perch to provide a means for manicuring a toenail of the bird while the bird feeds from the feeder; forming the manicuring perch into a predetermined shape sized to accommodate the grasp of the bird; placing each component part onto an assembly fixture and linking the components one to the other to form the feeder; and removing the linked components from the assembly fixture and installing a reclamation-stop-door to form the feeder.
These and various other features and advantages, which characterize the present invention, will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings.